806.M30 Segmentum Obscurus, Scarus Sector, Veridia System, Veridia Prime.
A giant machine man stood before an even bigger terminal. It looks clean, with sleek lines and arrangements across its body, but it is old. So old that some of its lines are chipped and cracked, taking some of its beauty away.
His metal body shifted from time to time, as the plates between his parts adjusted themselves. His head is completely covered in metal looking like a helmet.
The metallic plates began shifting, rearranging themselves and separating from the whole. Slowly they began compacting and changing in shape. By the time the last piece separated, a hover craft stood behind a man.
The man had the face of a human, with a bionic eye and ports attached to his neck and spine. He is 6ft tall, with a body completely covered in metal that shimmered, indicating the motion of very tiny machine parts. A link of metal attached to his spine and the grav-sled behind him.
Arch Magos Ferrum-Rho stands before what he considers the greatest find in the Imperium, at least that is what he hopes. Extending his arm out, it begins with the metal along his arm bending and flowing into a long thin connector.
Connecting to the terminal, his brain begins to receive data. Data that would have required more than a dozen Tech-Priests to handle, he did alone.
The sacred terminal illuminated itself to Ferrum-Rho as what he had been looking for. The panacea STC, every cure for known diseases, biological augmentation improvements, life extension technology, they are all present.
He never knew the reason for its loss, only that it was lost, and he planned for that to never happen again.
"[Directive]: Magos Xerath-17, you are granted access to this location." he sent a message via vox to his most trusted subordinate.
It took a few minutes for Xerath-17 to appear here, because the Arch Magos had not allowed them to come too close to the site.
"[Acknowledged]: Arch Magos, is this th…" Magos Xarath-17 paused. This was the first time he had seen the Arch Magos stand at normal height since he received the whisper of the Omnissiah and created his massive 20ft body.
"[Query]: Arch Magos is this the… sacred template …we…you…we have sought for the past 6 solar cycles
[Calculating Data]...
[Analysing]..."
Meanwhile in a far distance in a different segmentum
806.M30, Pacific Segmentum, Sabbat Worlds, Verghast planet
A child in the hive city Ferrozoica, is sitting at the back of his creche.
"Jorren, your silence is noted, but the guild requires vocal confirmation of the rites."
"...." the child Jorren answered with a series of hand gestures that could not be understood by the guild tutor.
The session finished shortly after that. All the children 4 and up move towards the factory floors. Jorren and his family are contracted under the Guild Marisco. The company produces drugs for the population of Verghast.
"Jorren! Intake-Vent F-63 has seized. Use those spider-limbs of yours and purge the jam… Now" the manager in charge of repairs doesn't even wait for Jorren to settle and change into work wear, he is already giving orders.
"..." another set of hand signs from Jorren, to which the manager simply rolled his eyes
"Enough with the mud-signs, boy. Just go and do your job." the manager exasperated with Jorrens antiques said.
Jorren as he has done for the past 2 years put on his protective suit, moving into the chemical infested air locked room. The machine F-63 sits at the back of the room.
With refined movements, Jorren gets on top of the machine. Undoing screws and until a broken part of the machine presents itself. A part within a pipe there to grind the particles has jammed.
His hands go into the pipe up to his elbow. Moving his fingers around to loosen the gear holding it in place. With a quick pull he separates it from the plate, taking out a replacement part from his pouch, he completes the fix.
"Why do you bind your soul to such trivialities, little one"
"Does your spirit not ache for the infinite… to see the tides of the Aether"
"How heavy is the weight of walking among the blind, seeing what they cannot"
"Let me tear the veil. Behold the burning galaxy!" with that last statement Jorren freezes.
Images flash in his mind, the Emperors Crusade, the Primarchs, the Astartes, and the many worlds it would one day come to rule. Then he saw the crash, the loss of primarchs, 18 to be precise.
Then something caught his eye, and Astartes with the wrath of a god, and the brutality of a deamon.
"Your species is a guttering candle in a hurricane. Let me be your shield... or your wick. Hahaha!" the entity laughed in joy as Jorren Nox still refused to speak.
In another part of the galaxy
806.M30, Segmentum Ultima, Catachan System, Catachan
"Strax what is the situation" a very quiet voice sounded out in the ears of a very young child, at most 6 years old.
"Twelve paces, Bearing-Green. Trapwire under the root. Another at fifteen, hidden by the fern-rot." Strax replied, thinking for a bit he whispered again
"Drake bats to the left" he whispered to the team of full-adults behind him.
This is the death world of Catachan, there are no children present here. Strax Venom has been learning how to survive since the very moment he was born. By 3 years old he already knew every form of flora and fauna, that this death world had to offer.
Today is his first day beyond the burn line. His task is scouting for trip wires laid out by others across the jungles. With his learning ability he was chosen by some of the strongest warriors as the scout for this group.
Beyond that, what he doesn't tell anyone is that, to an extent, he can communicate with the flora in the jungle. Most are hostile, but there are a few he can actually get information from.
Releasing his knot from the tree he is on he mutters
"Thank you"
As he uses the rope to loop around one of its branches pulling himself up. From the higher branch he leaps to the next tree, avoiding the drake bats sleeping in the trees above.
At the same time
806.M30, Segmentum Solar, Sol-System, Ganymede
A young boy drops to the floor panting after exiting a sensory deprivation tank. His eyes give nothing of the madness it is to sit in the silence.
"[Directive]: Unit Silvanus is to report to the Cog halls."
"Compliance" the boy simply stated as he walks away from the tech-priest.
Silvanus-Prime truly did not like the Adeptus Mechanicus as they would later be called. They have bastardized flesh, they have taken away the unique advantage it possesses.
Moving along the corridor, he encounters a boy with the body of a man. This is Atlas, a boy with no name until given by Silvanus.
"Atlas, how long was i gone this time"
"8 hours, sir" Atlas answered
"Good. Another set of invasive ports. They want to turn me into a map of their own ignorance." he said as he looks at the chem ports on his arms and his neck.
"I really need to get to Luna" as the boy mentioned Luna, a smile so wide it looks like he would tear his mouth.
"That is where the flesh is perfected, Atlas. Not replaced." he once again smiled at Atlas.
They moved together towards the prayer halls where tech-priests awaited them and other young acolytes. When the hall was finally full, the tech-priest upon the podium announced the start of the lesson.
"[Directive]: Commencing Hymnal-Alpha. Recite the Hymn of Maintenance!"
With that the chorus of voices, of the acolytes sounded out within the halls
"
The soul of the Machine Spirit surges with life.
The power of the Cog moves the gears.
From the weakness of the mind, Omnissiah save us.
From the lies of the Antipath, circuit preserve us.
From the rage of the Beast, iron protect us
"
As the children recited the Canticle, Silvanus didn't look at the altar. He looked at Atlas. He could see the blood pumping under the boy's skin, a biological rhythm far more complex than any gear.
'I can improve him even more.'